OSKOM
OSKOM Rapid Response Group (Russian: Группа быстрого реагирования ОСКОМ) was a Russian military unit responsible for the defense of Novosibirsk that subsequently came to be in charge of the survivors in the Novosibirsk Metro. The name OSKOM is an acronym, meaning OS'obiy '''KOM'itet (Russian: '''ОСобый КОМитет), that can be translated as The Special Committee '''or The Emergency Committee''', which is a fairly typical Russian name for a civil or military defense organization. By the events of Metro Exodus, the entire group has been wiped out, except for the child soldier Kirill. Overview OSKOM was presumably one of the units responsible for the defense and evacuation of Novosibirsk as World War III began. It appears they were supported by a sizable armored unit, that would eventually be wiped out by the Cobalt bomb employed against Novosibirsk. Unlike the Central Metro Command, OSKOM was able to visibly remain in control of their Metro and was able to retain the cooperation of the civilian population for at least 20 years. In the immediate aftermath of the War, OSKOM set themselves up as a Committee with Lieutenant General Vinogradov as its leader. OSKOM was able to keep the Metro's population alive thanks to a large supply of anti-radiation medicine known as "Green Stuff" and tight control of its scarce food resources. At some point before 2035, the civilian population became suspicious of OSKOM who had divided the Metro between "Clean" and 'Dirty" stations. Based on Artyom's notes, while the Clean stations lived in relative comfort it appears that OSKOM was using workers from the "Dirty" stations to do manual labor. Much of this labor was being done on the surface to clear the city's railway tracks to allow the evacuation of the metro, which often resulted in 90% casualties, which OSKOM considered sustainable losses. To make matters worse for the inhabitants of the "Dirty" stations, their ration of the "Green Stuff" was slowly being halved. The civilian population became increasingly paranoid that OSKOM was attempting to leave the city without them, prompting a number of riots. Although initially able to put down the riots, they quickly grew in size and began to overwhelm OSKOM and the "Clean" stations. Rioters that were captured by OSKOM were delivered to their Special Department, where they were executed en-masse. The Rioters were right that OSKOM was fleeing the city without them, as the unit's commanders thought that what little radioprotector was left would be insufficient for the entire metro, and decided to leave the rest of the population behind in the evacuation, including their own men. Eventually, OSKOM was forced to conscript what remained of the civilian population in the "Clean" stations, which included the children, to fight off the rioters. With the Metro now in a full-scale war, OSKOM anchored its defenses at Sibirskaya Station. Despite the use of armored railcars and machine guns, Sibirskaya station was overwhelmed, and in desperation OSKOM sealed the blast doors to the station and filled it with chlorine gas, ultimately wiping out both OSKOM and the rioters. By the time the war ended, only two survivors remained, Lieutenant-Colonel Khlebnikov and his son Kirill. Trivia *OSKOM and the rioters were presumably wiped out around the same time the Aurora Crew left Burabay. *The unit appears to have built several rail tanks similar to the Fourth Reich's Panzers. Gallery MetroExodus 2019-03-21 19-33-52-21.jpg|OSKOM logo painted on wall of Novosibirsk metro station. MetroExodus 2019-03-21 19-20-41-12.jpg|OSKOM Banner MetroExodus 2019-03-21 19-28-12-48.jpg|Dead OSKOM Soldier MetroExodus 2019-03-21 19-28-35-76.jpg|OSKOM Armored Railcar Soldier Variant 1.jpg|Soldier Variant 1 Soldier Variant 2.jpg|Soldier Variant 2 Soldier Variant 3.jpg|Soldier Variant 3 Soldier Variant 4.jpg|Soldier Variant 4 ru:ОСКОМ Category:Factions Category:Metro Exodus